Lahore:
The National Grid Company (NGC) said an eligible black list company to participate in a call for tenders for a 135 -kilometer transmission line project.
Depending on the details, NGC issued a tender to lay a 135 km transmission line. Four companies were declared eligible after a technical assessment. A company previously on the black list by the Asian Development Bank to engage in a fraudulent practice and to provide false documents has also been declared eligible after the technical assessment. Interestingly, an company on a blacklist cannot be declared eligible to participate in a tender.
In a letter sent to the Director General of the NGC, a Saudi investment company said that the company had come to Pakistan for having investments in the government’s invitation, but the blacklist had been declared eligible, which is equivalent to irregularity. The incident increased the questioning point on the transparency of the NGC tender process.
The Saudi company demanded that surveys be carried out on the issue to restore the confidence of foreign investors.
Sources have said that some NGC officials modify the rules to declare the company on an eligible blacklist. When Express News contacted NTDC MD Shahid Nazeer engineer on this subject, he said that the letter from the Saudi company had been sent to the purchasing and contract management department.
